MAINE, USA — The Office of the Maine Attorney General has ruled on three separate officers' use of deadly force. In all three cases, the attorney general's office determined the officer's use of deadly force was necessary as a means of self-defense and the defense of others.
Two of the incidents happened in 2019 and one was from 2022.
The first happened in Lewiston in August 2019. Police said Kevin Harvey, 51, was threatening to kill himself and his girlfriend at their home. At one point, Harvey left the home and went into nearby woods. Police heard gunshots and believed they were coming from Harvey, so Lewiston Officer Jeffrey Burkhardt fired at him.
Harvey was found lying dead in the woods. It was later determined that Harvey had already shot and killed himself when Burkhardt fired at him.
In the second case, officers responded to an armed robbery at the Dollar General store in Limerick in December 2019. The alleged robber, later identified as 16-year-old Christopher Camacho, was armed with what appeared to be a handgun and a knife.
York County Sheriff's Deputy Robert Carr entered the store and found Camacho holding an employee hostage and pointing what later turned out to be a realistic-looking pellet gun at the employee. Deputy Carr shot and killed Camacho.
The third case happened in July 2022 at Sebasticook Lake Campground in Newport. Two Penobscot County Sheriff's deputies responded to a report of a man armed with a gun holding hostages.
Two deputies encountered Stephen Bossom, 35, who was an employee of the campground. After refusing repeated orders to drop his weapon, Bossom raised his gun at the deputies, and Deputy Kenneth York shot and killed him.
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